LITIGATION: The Mismatch Maker

The Mismatch Maker

"We are going to find the one man who is absolutely right for you," declares Helena Amram in ads touting her chain of matchmaking services. But the high- profile doyenne of dating has a date of her own -- in New York State's Supreme Court, where Attorney General Robert Abrams filed a suit last week against several of Amram's firms. The accusation: her clients paid wildly inflated prices for nightmarish nights on the town.

Aggrieved customers tell of dates who were overaged, overweight, underemployed and sometimes already married. One woman recalled an escort who had "dyed bright-orange hair," while another said...